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Exhibition ship on tour: Visual Analytics research group with geolocalisation tool on board

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Exhibition ship on tour: Visual Analytics research group with geolocalisation tool on board

Exhibition ship on tour: Visual Analytics research group with geolocalisation tool on board

Date

2019-05-08

The exhibition on board MS Wissenschaft, which runs from 16 May to 3 October 2019, deals with artificial intelligence. Participatory exhibits directly from research provide insights into the development and application of artificial intelligence. The exhibition shows, for example, how image and speech recognition work. In a quiz, AI professionals and AI novices can test and expand their knowledge of artificial intelligence.

Under the motto "Where does the picture come from?", the Visual Analytics research group, headed by L3S member Prof. Dr. Ralph Ewerth, will show the geolocation estimation tool it has developed, in which man and machine compete against each other and appreciate where the photo was taken. Thanks to artificial intelligence, the computer usually wins in the estimation, the human being is inferior.

The Visual Analytics Research Group conducts research on the topic of visual concept detection, which is the automatic extraction of information from images. The team has developed an innovative method for estimating a photo’s geolocation: a machine learning method based on so-called convolutional neural networks (CNNs) uses not only geographical features, but also contextual information about the scene in the photo to estimate the photo’s geolocation. In this way, the neural network, which mimics neurobiological processes in the human brain, can be trained to recognise specific geographical features for various scenarios such as urban scenes, natural environments or indoor settings.

Identifying fake news with photos

To determine the location of a photo, this AI-based system uses only the image content and no data stored by the camera. First, it detects whether the image was taken in an urban or rural environment or in an indoor environment. Five million training photos help the AI to further narrow down the location of the shot. “With urban images, such features may include buildings or architectural details; in the case of nature scenes, flora and fauna are considered,” stated Prof. Dr. Ewerth, describing the method.

A system like this could help in the future to identify false messages as such. It can already be used to check how credible photos are as a source of information and how likely it is that an image was taken exactly in the region specified.

Colourful programme on MS Wissenschaft

The MS Wissenschaft is a converted inland freight vessel that used to travel on European waterways with coal and containers. Since 2002, the exhibition ship has been sailing across Germany every summer as a floating Science Center during the Science Years. Film evenings, workshops and discussion events take place on the deck of the exhibition ship. From June there will be an exhibition rally for schools.

MS Wissenschaft starts its tour on 16 May 2019 in Berlin and visits 27 cities in Germany until the beginning of October. It will then travel on to Austria.